Waterton, National Park Canada

Yesterday we became international RVers as we cross the border into Canada. Waterton Lakes National Park is essentially the northern section of Glacier National Park. It is a nice little National Park, but it cannot be compared to it’s big brother on the right side of the border. We spent a couple of days here at a primitive campground on the Belly River in Alberta. Over the years, we have evolved as campers and these days we do as much primitive camping as possible. Primitive camping means that there is no electricity, no water, no pools or other niceties of the commercial KOA style campgrounds. What primitive campgrounds does offer is a true wilderness experience, a different crowd of campers, and unmatched solitude. We are overlooking a 1000 acre meadow in front of us flanked by the cascading mountains of Glacier National Park in the background.

This is the kind of view that people in the local hotels pay $400 a night for. We scored our site fort he grand total of $15 a nights with unlimited firewood included!

After the experience at Glacier, Waterton Lakes is a bit of a let down. The highlight of the park is the world famous Prince of Whales Lodge which is truly something to behold. It looks like it is straight out of the Swiss Alps. We love National Park lodges and always try to book at least one meal in the nicer ones. We had a lovely lunch here. The views of Waterton Lake were stunning. Tomorrow we head North West to Banff National Park. I will leave you with this bit of trivia. Canadians are not the beer swilling hockey fans that we conjure up in our minds. OK the Hockey part is true. Every Canadian I met, wants to talk about the Rangers, Islanders, and Devils. But the beer swilling part simply cannot be true. It is too damn expensive. A 6 pack of cheap beer like Coors light sells for about $14. I am not sure if this is just in Alberta or the whole country has gone mad, but beer is off the grocery list for now.